The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between mentoring and Early Career Teacher retention, within an urban school district in Maryland. The research examined mentoring and teacher retention in an urban school district. There were 11 participants in the study. Seven of the participants remained in the district after their…

Chronic absenteeism in public K-12 schools is a national crisis. More than 8 million students attending public schools are absent 15 or more days each school year. Research shows students attending school daily are better prepared academically and socially. In Maryland, a large urban school district has not met the state's 94% attendance…

Objective: Young adults of age 18-29 years old account for the most COVID-19 cases in the US, and ethnic groups were affected disproportionately. Correctly wearing a face mask remains a critical intervention for COVID-19 mitigation. The study aimed to examine how well Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) residents adhered to mask…

Purpose: Content analysis of school websites may reveal the degree to which schools value physical education (PE) and physical activity (PA). We used the approach to quantify Maryland's private school websites' PE/PA content and associations with school characteristics. Method: The analytic sample (n = 387) was examined for mention of…

In 2016, the United States Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights reported that Black girls were overrepresented among students who face discipline that excluded or criminalized them. Although Black girls constituted only 8% of K-12 students nationwide, 14% had received one or more out-of-school suspensions. Out-of-school suspensions…

As the rise in need for social emotional learning (SEL) becomes apparent in schools, the lack consistent implementation in schools is apparent. Information has been collected stating how districts, schools, and teachers implement their own SEL lessons into the classroom to promote student well-being. The purpose of this qualitative study was to…

This qualitative study focused on the insights of the participants in order to provide a more significant understanding of how they view their skills and abilities when providing mental health supports as a novice school counselor. A generic qualitative approach was used to answer the following research question, "What are the self-efficacy…

Baltimore City Public Schools includes approximately 30 high schools, and the characteristics of each school's graduates vary systematically according to schools' admissions policies, curricular areas of focus, and resource availability, which depend on school size, management type, and leaders' priorities. This report summarizes trends in…

The problem this qualitative case study addresses is the lower academic achievement of students in urban districts in the United States. In Baltimore City Schools, fewer than 20% of third to eighth grade students are on grade level, and over half of the students are below grade level. In addition, students may or may not appear connected or vested…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) ensures equitable educational opportunities for all students and has underscored the importance of enhancing school principals' ability to lead diverse instructional programs, including gifted and talented education. However, principal preparation programs and school districts fail to improve principals'…

This article examines high school graduation rates and Algebra I proficiency rates in a large urban school district in Maryland. The article approaches the problem of low minority graduation and Algebra I proficiency rates from a critical race theory perspective. The article challenges the school district's received narrative that it is doing well…

In this research brief, we describe and decompose school segregation by race and ethnicity in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, in which we include: the District of Columbia; Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax County in Virginia; and Montgomery County and Prince George's County in Maryland. We find only modest segregation within all but one…

This research study examined how school leaders internalize new state-level reading policy aligned with the body of research known as the Science of Reading and how they make sense of district expectations to make decisions for their school community and its impact on students at-risk for reading difficulty. The Ready to Read Act is a Maryland…

There has been an increasing movement to include children with disabilities in general education classrooms. However, the goal of inclusion is often not met by teachers. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory single case study was to gain insight and understanding about general education teachers' perceptions concerning the performance of…

The first three years for new teachers can be quite challenging. Several school districts have induction programs to help these teachers develop their efficacies and remain in the classrooms. One of the main attributes of induction is mentoring. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the relationship between mentoring and…